Offshore oil development and community impacts : changes in attitudes and perceptions in communities affected by onshore activities

Jones, Pamela
(1998)
Offshore oil development and community impacts : changes in attitudes and perceptions in communities affected by onshore activities.
Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English]
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Abstract

For decades, social scientists have tried to understand the social and economic impacts of large-scale development on rural communities. Much of the uncertainty has recently been attributed to the limited time frame observed in most empirical analyses. More recently, researchers studying the impact of large-scale development have taken the issue further through more specific consideration of the extent and duration of impacts in both time and space. This research examines the changing temporal and spatial impacts of onshore construction activities related to the Hibernia Development Project, at Trinity Bay, Newfoundland to test the concepts put forward by recent social impact researchers. In doing so, the research demonstrates some of the limitations of the current environmental assessment process in Canada and the importance of addressing those limitations for the continued improvement of impact management in relation to large-scale projects. The study uses the results of an existing pre-development survey of attitudes and perceptions as the baseline for two subsequent research phases undertaken at later stages in the construction project. Results generated from the subsequent surveys allows the analysis of changes in attitudes and perceptions overtime, as well as the analysis of spatial variation in attitudes and perceptions among communities within the immediate impact area. The study shows that impacts can change over time and space, and that both community and project characteristics are important in determining the types of impacts that occur and how communities are likely to respond to those impacts.